Matthew 26:1–27:66

Jesus came to do what we couldn’t do.

I want us to start in verse 6...this story about this woman, who John tells us is Martha, who pours out all of this expensive perfume and as she does it we see they ask "why waste this perfume when it could be used for a better use? John tells us that the one who asked the question was Judas Iscariot who himself would pocket some of the money from the things they received. But what this story focuses on is that all the disciples were in agreement that this was a waste, that it could be put to better use.

Jesus responds to them by saying she has done a noble thing…a thing that will be remembered in the life of the church.

Underlying this is this idea that every dollar and cent must be accounted for and we must always think efficiently with our resources. But sometimes Jesus asks us not to nickel and dime but just to give everything in order to be with Him. Don't weigh the pros and cons, don't budget out how much He deserves, but just give because you love Him!

If you have kids you have a budget, and part of that budget is for vacations, Christmas and birthday gifts, activities with them. But we all know that sometimes we don't count the cost but we just do things because we love them. When they ask "please!!!" and you just can't say no because your love for them goes past a budget, it goes past what we always planned for. Because having kids isn't a financial stable move! But it is something done out of love.

And throughout tonight we will see what Jesus is willing to pay for us and what the disciples are unwilling to pay and it will force us to ask the question for ourselves “what am I willing to give up for Jesus?

Because soon Jesus will be the one poured out for many, and His disciples will say to Him "why would you, the Messiah, waste your life for all these who are undeserving? Isn't your life meant for better use?" The disciples are also going to be dealing with giving up everything for Jesus. Letting go with what is considered costly in order to enjoy Jesus. They are going to be asked the question "what will it cost to follow Jesus and what are you willing to pay?" How much are you willing to give in order to follow Jesus?

Judas has an answer…thirty piece of silver.

But this question and this answer, we see, at first seems sad. But in fact what we will see in the end it is filled with joy. Because Jesus DID do what we were not able to do.

This day can seem like defeat, it can seem like Jesus is losing…but in fact on this night Jesus is securing our victory.

We see this is true in three ways. Jesus submitted to His Father’s will, He humbled Himself, and He bore our punishment.

Jesus submitted to His Father’s will perfectly where we would follow our own will

Jesus had just got done telling his disciples that there will be a separation, between those who believe and those who don't believe in the words that he has for them. And after He had finished telling them this He warns them of something that is to come that they must believe in. That He will be crucified.

And at this moment the chief priest and elders are talking amongst themselves, they are trying to find a way they can arrest Jesus. They had tried before, they had come up with excuses in the past, but nothing was sticking. They were trying to prevent rioting. This was something that had happened before in Israel. In fact, several times there had been rioting in Israel because someone believed them to be a Messiah and others had followed them.

But one key detail, they were trying to act treacherously, they were attempting to lie or manipulate the truth for their own gain.

Then we see that the disciples are preparing what is necessary for the Passover meal. He tells them to go into town and there will be a man who is prepared to give them a room to use. We don't know who this but it seems like Jesus knew this man ahead of time and asked him to prepare this room. We just know they were obedient in giving to Jesus what He deserves, just like Martha had previously done.

And as they are sitting Jesus tells them that one of them will betray Him. And all of them believe it is not them. That they would never...

There is the story Jesus tells of those who will believe they have followed Him but in actuality had never been following them. At this moment I bet each of these men is wondering “is this me that He is talking about?” And in the future they will make mistakes, they would run away from danger, deny Jesus in fear, they would forget that Jesus told them He would come again and move on with their lives after His death. In fact, in v. 31-35 this is exactly what we see. And even Peter says "I will never deny you." But the one who betrayed Him already knew, because it was an intentional act, not an unintentional one. These are people who follow Jesus for what He can do for them, not for how they are called to serve Jesus. Judas makes a choice to betray Jesus, the other disciples don’t betray Jesus. This was just an affirmation to Judas that he was playing into the story the Father had already planned. Because even their falling away was part of the prophecy in Zechariah 13:7. It was something already written. And the identification of their belief in Jesus was not that they denied Him but that after they had sinned and fallen away that they repented of their sins.

Then Jesus, he meets with his disciples and He enacts the first communion. He tells them exactly what is going to happen. That His body will be broken for them. That His blood will be poured out for the forgiveness of their sins.

Then Jesus sang a hymn with them, Psalm 115-118

But we see that just as the disciples are being tested about their task of trusting the Father, Jesus is experiencing the same temptation. To remove this terrible experience from Him and to do something easier, less painful. He asks His Father if this "cup" can be taken away from Him. And to understand the cup is to also understand why it could not be removed. Because the disciples were not able to take the cup, they were deny when faced with the trials before them. The cup was the wrath of God that had to be poured out, it was the symbol of blood that needed to be shed in order for forgiveness of sins. But none of us could take this cup, all of us would unable to take the pain, neither could we endure the separation and the burden that would come from taking the sins of the world. Jesu needed to be the one to take this because no one else could.

His disciples couldn't even stay awake! Jesus was all alone in this trial...

But why couldn't they stay awake? Why wasn't praying with Jesus important enough for them to stay awake?

-They probably didn't understand the urgency of what Jesus had told them, they might not have even believed Him about what He said would be happening.

-Yet Jesus says He is "deeply grieved to the point of death", you would think you would consider this a significant concern!

-But notice what He also says, "stay away so that you won't enter into temptation". Jesus had already warned them that they would all deny Him in the days to come and now He is giving them an opportunity to defend against these spiritual attacks because even as Jesus recognizing their willingness to die for Him, He knows willingness is not enough!

-Why? The flesh is weak, we are weak and we all sin. This is why Jesus had to come, this is why He must die. To do what none of us could do.

Jesus humbled Himself where we would show pride and arrogance

Then, at this moment, we see Roman soldiers come for Jesus. They come with weapons as if Jesus is a warrior, a violent threat. What had Jesus done up to this point to be considered a violent threat? We turned the tables, it is hardly an army that He employed. But they must have thought that if Jesus was going to be taken down that He wouldn't go down without a fight.

-We see that He is betrayed by one He calls a friend.

-They arrest Jesus and Jesus does not put up a fight.

But we see that Peter does use violence. He attempts to protect Jesus because he doesn't understand what Jesus is doing. He doesn't see that this is all part of the Father's plan, that Jesus needs no protecting because He could easily take on these men with the power of God if He wanted or needed to. But that is not what is necessary.

-In fact, Jesus says that taking up weapon against weapon is not the answer is calling His disciples to. If that is what you seek, it will also be your downfall. That it isn't something that is to be desired in any circumstance and certainly not this one.

-Jesus identifies that all the circumstances that have led to this point are within the plans of His father.

-After they take Jesus away we see that the disciples do run away, they don't stay by Jesus side in His trials. This is just as Jesus had told them would happen.

We talked a few weeks ago that if someone slaps you on your right cheek, if someone sues you, if someone hates or persecutes you that we are called to love them.

What is also interesting is that Peter is willing to give sacrifice with a sword for Jesus…but He isn’t yet willing to stand with Jesus in His humiliation yet. His mind hasn’t made the shift.

Jesus here give us a perfect picture of this truth. Jesus is persecuted on behalf of righteousness . They even go to the point of slander and lying. They break one of the commands that they hold so strongly, to not bear false witness against your neighbor. Does that change Jesus perspective? Does he in any way try and defend himself? No, He keeps silent.

They ask Him clearly "are you the Messiah, the Son of God." Surely they were expecting a no, surely He would not say that He is the Son of God.

-Jesus answers "you're the one who said it, not me" but then continues to say "there will be a point where I will not just be here but I will be at the right hand of the Father above all things.

-But at this answer they call Him a blasphemer, a liar. They say "why do we need false witness when He made is so abundantly clear" and at this point they have all they need in order to believe He deserves death.

-But they don't just pass judgment, they insult Him, abuse Him, mock Him. What they don't know is that they are mocking the Son of God.

Then we have this scene with Peter. one that all of us remember. But we must remember in context of everything else we have seen up to this point. Jesus telling the disciples that they will all fall away from Him and Peter being adamant that this will not be the case, but Jesus predicting this denial. Yet Peter says "even if I have to die with you I will never deny you." Peter falling asleep in the Garden even as Jesus identifies to Peter this is the point to find spiritual strength yet Peter cannot stay awake and pray. Peter using violence in order to defend Jesus and Jesus rebuking Him. And now we see that even after all of his conviction and belief that he would stay next to Jesus we see that Jesus is right when He said "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."

Where does this experience leave Peter? Weeping, sorrowful, probably confused. "How did I let this happen? I was so sure that I could do it on my own." But we cannot do it on our own, the flesh is weak.

We see another weak character in Judas. He recognizes his sin, he goes and tries to right his wrong and return the money. But it is too late, and we the priests continual hypocrisy that they can pay money for blood but they will not receive it.

Judas is remorseful to the point of killing himself. A sorrowful scene. He submitted himself not to the Father’s will but to His own will and we see what the end result was.

After Jesus appeared before the Sanhedrin He then finds himself before the governor Pilate. Pilate asks him a more specific question, "are you the king of the Jews?" Essentially asking Jesus "have you come to create a kingdom to overcome Rome?" and Jesus does not deny this claim. But the reason does not speaking affirmatively to it is because what they think the king of the Jews is and what Jesus really is are different things.

And even as Pilate is talking the Sanhedrin and other priests are saying other things about Jesus that they believe He has done and Pilate asks "aren't you going to try and defend yourself? At this point they bring before them Barabbas and Jesus. It was a Roman custom to release one Jewish prisoner, it was a way to relieve the tensions that were there between the Romans and the Israelites. And this prisoner was Barabbas. There are a few very interesting things about Barabbas.

First, his name means "son of the father". And in this we have this parallel, who are they going to release? The son of THE Father or the son of a father of Israel? The one who came to save our sins, who lives a perfect and sinless life, who was obedient to the point of death. Or were they going to release this rebel. The other Gospels tell us that he had committed murder, that he was a robber, one who most likely had tried to overthrow Rome himself and who tried to kill those in power. There is nothing good about this man and yet they cry out "free Barabbas".

In this we also see a picture of what Jesus will be doing in the near future, taking the place of us...because we are the sinners, the murderers, the thieves, the adulterers, the liars, those who are covetous, those who deny God and worship idols. And Jesus take our place out of compassion and He brings us forgiveness for that which we did not deserve. So if we look at Barabbas and ask "how could they possibly have picked Barabbas over Jesus" you should ask yourself "how could I have possibly picked myself over Jesus?"

But it is not just the choosing of Barabbas over Jesus, but it is that they choose the violent death of crucifixion, the death of a criminal, the worst of sinners. And not only that, but they flog Him beforehand. An innocent man that they torture.

Jesus bore the punishment of sin that we couldn’t carry

But as this story continues we see this humiliation of Jesus goes deeper. They take Jesus "into" the governor's residence, this by itself seems to be to mock Him. Bringing Him into the place where He should be ruling in order to strip him, to put royal clothes on him, to put a "crown" on his head and a staff in his hand as they say "hail, king of the Jews!".

The question we have to ask is why the governor's soldiers had such resentment towards Jesus? What had He done to them? Was it His claim that He was the king and their perception that He would try to overthrow Rome?

Whatever the case may be they take these royal qualities and they put spiteful elements to them. Here it says "scarlet robe" while Mark says a "purple robe". There is really no way of knowing the truth on this but what we do know is that from a soldiers perspective red was a color of a warrior. So this is indicating to us that they believed Jesus was going to try and lead the Jews against the army of Rome. Even though Jesus has shown us that He is a king of peace. And they put a crown on but a crown of pain. The mocked all the elements of Him being a king.

Then, they force another man, Simon, to carry His cross. Jesus had already told His disciples in Matthew 16:24-26 that they would have to take up their cross and follow Him. It is to join into the embarrassment and humiliation of what Jesus went through. Many people, I'm sure some of you here wear a cross around your neck, or have a tattoo of a cross, maybe some earrings, or as a bumper sticker on your car. At the time of Jesus death that would have been considered humiliation to bare any association with a cross. It was to dehumanize this person so that they were forgotten from memory. Think of you were to put a noose symbol around your neck, or a noose as a tattoo. We wouldn't do that because you don't want to think about a noose, you don't want to be associated with that in anyway. In fact, many people would find that offensive. And if you were to think of the people who used to be hung by nooses in the street for people to see. This was a sign of humiliation for that person, to say "this person that you revered so much, they are nothing now and this will be your fate if you act like them." I heard this said recently, "if Jesus didn't rise from the dead we would have never heard of Him." Why? Because there were thousands of others put on crosses before Jesus, in fact many who tried to overthrow Rome or take back Jerusalem. But why are they not remembered? Because they went to the tomb and they stayed there. They are a footnote in history, because their movement died when they died. So Simon is now forced to join in this humiliation. But notice it isn't Peter, or James, or John, or any of the other disciples that carries it because none of them are there. They have all fled.

And they come to this place, Golgotha, a wretched place. A place associated with death. And Jesus is given alcohol in order to try and numb His pain, but He refuses. Why does Jesus refuse? Because He is taking on the pain and the burden of the whole world and He is not shying away, He is not holding back. He is taking it all on.

They cast lots for His clothing, fulfilling prophecy in the process. They mock Him further and call Him "king of the Jews" and people pass by and insult Him and call Him names, and they mock Him because He said He would rebuild the temple in three days and they wonder why He can't get off the cross if He is God.

And then, in a statement littered with irony, "He saved others, but He cannot save Himself" when the reason He cannot save Himself is so that He can save others.

They ask for a God "if He can bring Himself down then we will believe!...Let God rescue Him if He is truly from God!" Isn't it crazy that we do this as well? God has saved us from our sins, He died on the cross for us, and yet sometimes we can say "God, you just need to perform one more sign for me then I will believe...just give me this one last thing that I need then I will know that you love me...save me from this difficulty then I can know you are really God." While Jesus is there...hung on a cross...doing exactly what He necessary to save us.

There is this show...its a comedy show...but it had this line where a character is talking to God and God tells them "When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all." And I think about that in this moment with Jesus on the cross...it seems like God isn't doing anything at all and yet He is doing everything.

Then, darkness comes over everything, representing all the sin of the world, the darkness coming onto this one man, Jesus. And Jesus says "why have you abandoned me" and He feels the weight of sin and the separation from God that comes with that. And as they try to keep Him alive, and as others mock, it says Jesus "gave up His spirit".

And that this moment the curtain is ripped in two, representing Jesus has taken the sin that separates us from God. The dead went up to be with the Lord.

And it is at this moment, at the death of Jesus, that all the people recognize who Jesus truly is...god.

We see those who were still with Jesus, all the women. The women stayed with Jesus while the men ran.

Then, as the prophecy in Isaiah 53 tells us "He was assigned a grave with the wicked but He was with a rich man in His death."

The Pharisee's guard it so that no one can steal His body, they do this because they know what Jesus had said, and they don't want there to be any reason for an uprising. And they protect it as the whole world lives in sorrow with Jesus death.

He did what we could not so that we may “hold on without wavering”

Hebrews 10:19-25 “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus—he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh)—and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.”